Gigabyte has issued a press release announcing its new UD PRO Series of SATA SSDs. At the moment, only two models are presented: the UD PRO 256 GB and the UD PRO 512 GB. According to the press release, the Gigabyte SSDs will be available on the market soon, possibly within the next week. Although the post does not state initial prices for the devices, PC Gamer was able to obtain them. Price points of US$68.99 for the 256 GB drive and US$119.99 for the 512 GB model suggest a competitive pricing strategy from the Taiwanese firm.
The new drives have advertised sequential read and write rates of up to 530 MB/s and 500 MB/s, respectively. They come in a 2.5-inch form factor and also have a three-year warranty attached to them. It seems a rather cautious entry into the SSD world for Gigabyte, especially when you consider Samsung is pushing out NVMe SSDs that zip along with read and write rates of 3,500 MB/s and 2,300 MB/s, respectively. However, it seems Gigabyte is planning on working on drives utilizing the faster interface for future release.
The key for success for Gigabyte’s UD PRO Series SATA SSDs is the expected price. A quick browse on Newegg throws up very few options for a new 256 GB SATA III SSD around the US$70 mark, with products from ADATA and Silicon Power being the main choices offered.